BERLIN (Reuters). BERLIN (Reuters). Self-charging hybrid vehicles that operate with both an internal combustion engine as well as a battery outsold diesel cars for the first-time in Europe in 2021. However, only 48 cars were sold, according to data released Wednesday.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association data showed that one out of 11 vehicles sold was battery-electric. This is just less than 880,000 cars.

The self-charging hybrid car has an internal combustion engine that charges the battery. It can drive only a short distance using electric power.

A plug-in car is powered solely by a externally charged battery. This makes them more sustainable, and they also have an internal combustion engine.

An impressive increase of the 1,901,239 millions self-charging hybrid car registrations in Europe during the past year was seen, which is more than the 1.1million registered in 2020.

Diesel registrations have plummeted since 2015’s Dieselgate scandal. They fell by one third last year from 2.77million to 1,901,191.

As part of pandemic recovery programs, new government subsidies for low or zero emission vehicles were implemented. This tripled the sales of plug in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles to more than one million by 2020. There was a nearly equal split of both types.

Automobile manufacturers see the plug-in-hybrids as an option for transitioning to fully-electric vehicles. But environmental groups are critical of their eco-friendly credentials. Studies have revealed that motorists rely heavily on the internal combustion engine rather than the battery and this has led to higher emissions.

The data revealed that battery-electric vehicles sold 63.1% more than 878,500 in 2021. Plug-in hybrids saw a 70% increase to almost 867,100.

Petrol was still the most popular fuel, but it made up 40% of all new registrations. This is down from 48% in 2020.